Kapu quota row: Agitators set train, police vehicles ablaze

Kakinada/Vijayawada/Hyderabad: At least 15 policemen were injured when a stir by Kapu community members seeking reservation under backward class category turned violent as the agitators went on rampage and set four coaches of Ratnachal Express on fire at Tuni station in East Godavari district.

Though no passenger was injured in the incident as they had alighted from the train before the bogies were set ablaze, the agitators, gathered at Tuni to attend a public meeting addressed by their leader Mudragada Padmanabh, pelted the engine of the train with stones and also attacked police personnel, before ransacking the railway station.

A total of 15 policemen, including a senior district police officer, were injured in the violence. The protest forced the authorities to stop all trains running between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada stations, causing a huge inconvenience to passengers. Road traffic on national highway 16 was also disrupted due to the protests.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said he was committed to reservation for the community.

"I am committed for the reservation for Kapu community for which a Judicial Commission was also constituted", he told reporters in Vijayawada tonight.

He said reservation benefits would be extended to the community without exceeding the total reservation by 50 percent as per the decision of the Supreme Court.